2014

Click for source 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 One of the most pervasive myths of the modern world is this: We think we know what we want. We think we know what’s best for us. And we think we ourselves are the best judges of these matters. The truth could not be further from this common misconception. […]

1 Timothy 6:1-12 Here’s a verse of the bible which everyone knows. Except that they don’t. 1 Timothy 6:10 does not say “Money is the root of all evil.” It says “the love of money is the root of all evil.” And if we really wanted to pick up on the nuances in the Greek, we […]

1 Thessalonians 1:1-9 The Christian life is one of waiting and of working. Advent puts us in mind of the waiting. We look not only to Christ’s first coming, but ahead to His second coming, to judge the living and the dead. Here is how Old Testament saints waited for that first coming: “I wait […]

Colossians 3:1-17 Anyone who’s really loved (or feared) knows that the heart is not the only emotional organ. Some of our greatest loves and our greatest fears are felt a little further south – in the guts! So while we might be used to speaking of a sinking heart, the Scriptures are comfortable speaking of […]

Click for source Philippians 3:1-4:9 We can often feel besieged by worries. Demands seem to threaten us from every side. We dare not step out into our calling lest we be crushed by pressures too great for us. Some of us respond by shutting down. “There is a lion without, I shall be slain in […]

Philippians 2:1-30 William Tyndale gave us the word, “likeminded”, but what gives us the reality? On the internet it’s easy to find “people like us”. No matter how specialist our interests might be, the online world is so large, any subgroup at all can find “likeminded” members. But what about in the local church? What […]

Ephesians 4:1-32 In his wonderful book on Ephesians, Watchman Nee observes that the letter can be divided into three movements: “Sit, Walk, Stand.” We are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:6) We then walk worthy of our calling in Christ. (Eph 4:1) And we stand against the assaults of the evil […]

Ephesians 3:1-21 What is the message of Christianity for the world? If you could boil it down, what is the proclamation of the church? Paul has a wonderful summary in Ephesians 3:8. John Wycliffe translated it: “the vnserchable richessis of Crist”. William Tyndale put it as: “the unsearchable ryches of Christ.” And, in that tradition, […]

Galatians 6:1-18 The saying is instantly recognisable as religious. Even if few people know where it comes from, most will assume it’s biblical. And they’ll assume that they know what it means. It’s about cause and effect right? It’s saying: ‘What goes around, comes around.’ ‘If you play with fire, you’re going to get burned.’ […]

Galatians 1:1-10; 2:11-21 What do we consider beyond the pale? What behaviour or what belief is out of bounds? How does a group or individual prove themselves to be completely unacceptable? In this context we might say that so and so or such and such is “anathema.” It might be as trivial as the way a […]